How much do your chickens eat? :D

[digitS']

The egg you dropped into the frying pan this morning had 6 to 8 grams of perfectly balanced protein. Actually, there was some protein lost in the shell and membrane that didn't go into the pan.

The animal nutritionists say that a laying (Leghorn-type) hen needs a minimum of 12.2 grams of protein each day - just to make that egg. She needs a minimum of 17 grams of well-balanced protein for the egg and maintenance of her body -- daily. Poultry Science, Auburn University (click)

You can ask yourself if your laying hen will gain 17 grams of protein (well-balanced) from a diet with lots of cabbage, fruit, scratch, and rice. There becomes a "capacity" question and mostly what she wants is to fill up on calories so that she isn't hungry. Lots of calories in some things but not a lot of balanced protein.

A good quality feed will have 17 grams of protein in about 110 grams of feed (these are all minimums). 110 grams = .24 pound.

Steve

 

[MadChickensVT]

My 17 birds are going through 50lbs of of pellets in 10 days. So that's 150lbs a month. Plus scraps and compost. They ate a LOT less pellets when there were bugs to eat.

 

[karlamaria]

digitS' :

The egg you dropped into the frying pan this morning had 6 to 8 grams of perfectly balanced protein. Actually, there was some protein lost in the shell and membrane that didn't go into the pan.

The animal nutritionists say that a laying (Leghorn-type) hen needs a minimum of 12.2 grams of protein each day - just to make that egg. She needs a minimum of 17 grams of well-balanced protein for the egg and maintenance of her body -- daily. Poultry Science, Auburn University (click)

You can ask yourself if your laying hen will gain 17 grams of protein (well-balanced) from a diet with lots of cabbage, fruit, scratch, and rice. There becomes a "capacity" question and mostly what she wants is to fill up on calories so that she isn't hungry. Lots of calories in some things but not a lot of balanced protein.

A good quality feed will have 17 grams of protein in about 110 grams of feed (these are all minimums). 110 grams = .24 pound.

Steve

thanks Steve, I will lay off the goodies so much and make them eat that crumble. I did forget to mention they get meal worms and crickets at times, and I give them some sort of meat each day, usually chicken, turkey or beef. does this count ? also they get a whole dish of boss each day, maybe to much sunflower seed? I know that boss has # 28 percent fat
# 25 percent fiber
# 15 percent protein
# Calcium
# B vitamins
# Iron
# Vitamin E

Im thinking that there protein is pretty darn good, but I could be wrong?​

 

[digitS']

It seems to me that meat counts for a hen's protein needs in a big way. She has to do very little with that protein to turn it into an egg or use it for her own body.

I'm never very sure about balancing plant proteins. That's why the animal nutritionists make the big bucks coming up with feed formulas.

A couple of veterinarians have put quite a lot of information on alternative feeds on a website: Poultry Husbandry (click) There seems to be few that rate over a 10% of diet, maximum.

Steve

 

[hobomom]

We have 23 hens, a goose and a duck. They all go through a little more than 100 lbs a month and they get to free range for a few hours every day in a fenced area that we move around in the yard for them. They all get veggies, grain or treats.

Something you may want to consider is are your chickens completely penned in - meaning: can other animals - birds (wild birds), rodents (squirrels/mice/gophers), deer or the various night time critters that roam around - can they get to the feed. We were going through about 25 lbs of crumbles every week until we discovered that starlings were getting into the run. Starlings are not only voracious eaters but they infected the entire flock with worms. :-( We put up more netting and shade screen along with stuffing more netting in the gaps where the run connected to the coop. Once the starlings were blocked out of the run the feed didn't run out as fast. And a pellet gun remedied the problem with the ground squirrels & the occasional gopher.

 

[bleu chick]

I feed 6 cups laying pellets and 6 cups whole oats for 14 chickens. I quit feeding scratch many years ago when my girls only ate the scratch and barely touched the pellets. And the corn attracks so many rats. These chickens have been raised on oats so they love them. Bought them scratch last winter to keep them warmer and they didnt know what to do with it. It took forever to go thru a bag.

They also get all the scraps they can eat. Right now they are eating lots of pumpkins. I got 30 free pumpkins after thanksgiving on craigslist. They eat the seeds and the pulp all the way down so that the outer skin is so thin it curls up like paper.

We used to have an agreement with a supermarket so they would give us their bad produce. We picked it up weekly. They put it out next to the dumpster so we could pick it up. It worked well for a long time. However, you need a spare fridge to store it so you can have enought to give everyday.

 

[MIKE555444]

Quote:
I have about 65 chickens which are mostly ISA Browns pullets - about 8 months old that eat almost exactly a half bag layer feed a day(or 25 pounds).

So better get prepared for about 750 pounds a month

 

[berniezahm]

Quote:
Do you, by chance, have a web location or plans for the PVC feeder you mentioned? I too have O.C.D., BYC has chat thread for that. If you do have plans of some sort I'd appreciate your sharing them with me. I'm tired of having the bottom rust out of the metal ones.

Here is the OCD chat thread:
» Pictures & Stories of My Chickens
» Chicken (Poultry) Addiction Anonymous *Chat Thread*

Best Regards,
BernieZahm
Cell: 410-937-4045

 

[tempus49]

We are in SW ohio.
I have 6 hens, 4+ months old.
They go thru a 12 pound feeder of 60/40 mix of layer crumbles & cracked corn every 10-15 days.
They free range from dawn to dusk in a fenced area, appx 150 sq ft. with a few hand-fulls of cracked corn or homegrown sunflower seed spread around a day. They get 1 or 2 large loafs of semi-stale italian type bread a day spread outside for them to forage and any leftovers or scraps from the kitchen. They also got pumpkins, spaghetti squash, acorn squash, cucumbers, Brussels sprouts, etc from my garden while it lasted and all the greens from the vegetable plants. They are getting big and a couple of my older farmer pals said they are very healthy. These guys have been raising livestock & chickens for generations and they said the best way to check if a hen is getting enough to eat is to run your hand along their spine: boney will be underfed; fatty/soft is overfed; muscular is fed okay.
I use coarse sand for grit and will start eggshells in another month or so.
I have a local mill and their price is almost the same as my local feed stores, not worth the drive with gas so high.
I was just gifted with another hen (have no idea what it is) older than the flock; she is having a hard time with them but is surviving because she is bigger.
4 australorps, 1 light brahma, 1 buff orpington & 1 ???

 

[vanalpaca]

I have 20 hens and 24 roos housed separately and the roos get to free range a couple hours a day. Right now the ground is frozen so it doesn't matter.

I was told/learned that a chicken eats 2 lbs of feed per week. They are Welsummers, so they are medium sized LF, about 6 lbs. So it's 3 bags of grower/layer and a bag of corn. I'm thinking they are eating LESS than the 2 lbs each per week. The roos also got rolled oats, but that is still $60 a week total to feed those chickens and I'm getting 2.5 dozen eggs a week, or $2 feed cost per egg!

I'd be interested in how else to feed them! Adding corn, scratch, or rolled oats simply dilutes their balanced amino acids found in the grower/layer mixes.

We used to feed parrots RBCD (Rice beans corn dogfood) before the mill formulas/crumbles were developed for them. Beans/legumes add the missing amino acids found in cereal crops. But buying that at the store would be raising my feed costs as frozen mix veggies cost $1 per lb or more. We'd cook the rice and the pinto beans. We also made 'bird bread' with corn bread mix recipe, add the eggshells with the egg and they would love us to add whole corn. I'd add soyflour to balance the protein, but I'm not cookin for 45 chicken greedy guts.

There HAS to be a cheaper way to feed them in the WINTER when the ground is frozen and they can't free range!